Biltmore Estate Visit

For years now my wife and I have been visiting the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. This year for Easter we brought our daughters there for the Easter egg hunt on the front lawn of the house, they had a great time and so did my wife and I. With the egg hunt, getting ice cream, and walking around in the garden I did not get to spend much time in the house but had to step in and at least walk around on the main floor.

For those of you who have never been there or even heard of the Biltmore House it is the largest privately owned home in America. Completed in 1895 by famous Architect Richard Mooris Hunt, he also designed the base of the Statue of Liberty. The house has over 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces on 4 acres of floor space. The gardens and grounds that surround the house were designed but Fredrick Law Olmstead the designer of New York Cities Central Park and is breathtaking to see, especially in the spring.

To dub the house as ”America’s largest home” to me sells the estate short. It is not about the size but the attention to detail in every room or view from the house. The landscape was designed to give natural yet breathtaking view, there is even a lagoon that was created to show the reflection of the home. In side that house each room designed what a specific theme and purpose.

Being a woodworker you can’t help but notice the details around every corner, not only in wood but also iron and stone. One of my favorite details the house are the doors, they are quarter sawn Oak with a scroll pattern hand carved into each door, and trust me there are a lot of doors in this house. I can’t imagine the time it would take to carve one door and there are hundreds of these inside.

If you are ever in Asheville I highly recommend spending the admission fee to spend a day at the estate.

Thanks for stopping by and as always please leave your comments and suggestions.